Why Passing the Beer Jobs Bill in Georgia Is So Hard

It should be common sense that a person touring a brewery should be able to buy beer there. 45 of the 50 states already have laws allowing that. But in Georgia, it is difficult. It’s a fight against legalized corruption.

Below are the members of the Regulated Industries Committee in Georgia’s Senate. These senators will review and vote on S.B. 63, State Senator Hunter Hill’s legislation to allow Georgians the right to buy beer at a brewery. Next to their contact information is how much money they’ve gotten from the alcohol wholesale industry, the group opposed to S.B. 63. Note that, according to Follow the Money, State Senator Bill Cowsert, the Senate Majority Leader, has not gotten any.

Then there is this to keep in mind. Under Senate Rules, the Lt. Governor gets three seats out of five on the committee that packs committees. The Lt. Governor also gets to refer legislation to committees. The Lt. Governor put Senators Jeff Mullis and Butch Miller on the Regulated Industries Committee. Those two gentlemen, Senator David Shafer, and Casey Cagle got vastly more money from alcohol wholesalers than anyone else. Shafer’s, it should be noted, came mostly from liquor/wine wholesalers, not beer.

Mullis is a friend of Cagle’s and has been a loyal lieutenant of the Lt. Governor’s for some time. Cagle is also rumoroed to have encouraged Senator Butch Miller to run against David Shafer for President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

In other words, in addition to Cagle, he put friends on the Regulated Industries Committee too, all of whom have gotten contributions from beer wholesalers to stack the deck against S.B. 63.

The game is rigged, but you have one thing they don’t have — votes. At the end of the day, public outrage over this sort of corrupt can force their hands. You need to be calling these people and demanding they vote for S.B. 63 — and demand they do so next week.

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Erick Erickson

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